"Nettuno!--gallant Nettuno!"--again flew past on the gale.
This cry might have been an answer, or it might merely be the Italian
encouraging his dog to bear on the body, with which it was already loaded
Sigismund uttered a shout, which he felt must be the last. He struggled
desperately, but in vain the world and its allurements were vanishing from
his thoughts, when a dark line whirled over him, and fell thrashing upon
the very wave which covered his face. An instinctive grasp caught it, and
the young soldier felt himself impelled ahead. He had seized the rope
which the mariner had not ceased to throw, as the fisherman casts his
line, and he was at the side of the bark, before his confused faculties
enabled him to understand the means employed for his rescue.
Maso took a hasty turn with the rope, and, stooping forward, favored by a
roll of the vessel, he drew the Baron de Willading upon deck. Watching his
time, he repeated the experiment, always with admirable coolness and
dexterity, placing Sigismund also in safety. The former was immediately
dragged senseless to the centre of the bark, where he received those
attentions that had just been eagerly offered to the Signior Grimaldi, and
with the same happy results.
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